


#Conlife

by UnicornAffair



Category: Power Rangers (2017), RWBY
Genre: M/M, Other Ships Not Mentioned in Tags, characters cosplaying rwby, established Trimberly, lots of rwby references, nothing from rwby season 6, this is basically the most meta thing I've ever written, tried to avoid spoilers as much as I could
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-21
Updated: 2018-12-21
Packaged: 2019-09-24 03:25:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,966
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17093138
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/UnicornAffair/pseuds/UnicornAffair
Summary: For years Billy has wanted one thing, to go to a comic or an anime convention. Now he finally has a group of friends that would indulge his wishes...cosplay and all. Only, he didn't expect Zack to get SO into the idea of it. Soon, the show RWBY became their thing.





	#Conlife

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Barbara_Lazuli](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Barbara_Lazuli/gifts).



> Happy Day 8 of 12 Days of Power Ranger fics! <3
> 
> Hey Barb, so this is a bonus gift fic for Christmas. If anyone deserves one it's you <3\. I was inspired by your characters dressing up as otps art sets and...well...took it very literally. <3 hope you like this one as well!

It wasn’t a secret that Billy Cranston was a  _ bit _ of a nerd. He loved, absolutely loved, reading comic books, superhero films, anime, manga, you name it he’s probably got several online volumes of it. Becoming a Power Ranger? Oh, that  _ only _ increased his love for the fictional genre. He could live out his childhood fantasies, it was the  _ best.  _ The only thing he  _ hadn’t _ done before is go to an anime or comic book convention to meet other people like him. It was something he’s always  _ wanted _ to do but, he never really had a group of friends that were willing or the funds to stay at a hotel. Now that he had a group of friends...a  _ family _ he was brave enough to share his hobbies with. Jason, Zack, Kimberly and Trini would  _ never _ make fun of him for his interests.

When he brought up a big anime con that would be happening in Reefside, the others had mixed reactions. Zack, unsurprisingly, was always immediately down for whatever was on the table if they could make their financial ends meet. Jason used this as a good outlet for team bonding and connecting with one another...really, he couldn’t say no to Billy. Which left the girls.

“Okay, I don’t know enough about  _ anime _ but” Kimberly folded her arms, “I’m not getting in a little school girl outfit for nerds to jack off too”

Trini pursed her lips turning her head to the side, ah, so much for  _ that.  _ “She has a point. Even the  _ cool _ characters tend to ah…” Trini motioned to  _ two _ areas in particular, her boobs and her butt. “Why can’t we just be  _ us _ at this thing?”

“Because  _ that’s _ no fun at all. Part of the con experience is  _ making _ out costumes” Billy sighed, “It’s something I’ve always wanted to try” He folded his arms, trying to think of a series off the top of his head that the girls would feel comfortable doing. Obviously, the rangers needed to go as a  _ group _ for maximum fun, “I promise, I’ll find a show that we’ll  _ all _ like” 

His first thought immediately went to RWBY. A strong female to male character ratio, super kick ass weapons that he would  _ love _ to build given the opportunity, fun fight choreography, and most importantly a great sense of style. The easiest part was that since the online series had been going for a few years it was easy to watch older seasons as movies and it wouldn’t take too much time to get through. 

Billy hosted operation get friends into a show night. His mom made snacks, they had the hook up for an assortment of non-alcoholic beverages, and with blankets, pillows, and couches in the basement of his home it made for the perfect setting for a traditional sleepover. Jason immediately chose Jaune Arc as he appeared on the screen. He had the most basic of looks when it came to male characters, which meant the least amount of work for the quarterback...or Billy to  _ make _ him the stuff he would need. The red ranger was never the craftiest. 

Trini and Kimberly had fun trying to figure out who they would be. The yellow ranger instantly gravitated toward the character of Blake Belladonna as soon as she appeared on screen and wanted nothing to do with the main characters. She was a front runner choice for Trini while Kimberly was a bit picker. Ruby Rose was way too hot topic and hyper for her taste, Weiss was a bit of a bitch in the early seasons and...as much as Kimberly  _ liked _ the character of Yang Xiao Long she didn’t think she could pull off the snow princess  _ or _ the busty  _ blonde.  _ After all a lot more went into cosplay than simply liking a character. Zack could feel the others look at him when Lie Ren came onto the screen, nope, he held out on choosing someone he liked. The  _ moment _ Sun Wukong came onto screen and bantered with Blake Belladonna was when he  _ knew _ that was the one for him. Not only was the costume easy, he had the abs, but he  _ felt _ this character on a personal level.

Billy held out on revealing who  _ he _ wanted to be. His favorite character was Neptune Vasilias. Neptune had  _ blue _ hair and  _ goggles _ with a really cool look so there was that...but Billy understood what it meant to try so hard just to get people to like him. Before the rangers came, he tended to drive people away with his overly chatty personality and ocd quirks. Neptune was someone Billy  _ aspired _ to be like. Neptune was afraid of water...Billy drowned...and they both had really cool tridents in common. 

It wasn’t until season two when the other rangers started to get more invested in the lives of Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, Blake Belladonna and Yang Xiao Long.  _ Especially _ during the dance episode. The  _ moment,  _ Jason’s chosen character Jaune Arc stepped up and wore a dress to the ball, Zack jumped onto the opportunity. “I will give you ten bucks to do  _ that _ version of him”

“What?” Jason frowned at the idea of going to  _ anything _ in a dress, “No way, you don’t even  _ have _ ten dollars”

“I’ll give you fifty” Kimberly chimed in, Ms Money bags of the group also thought this was a worthy cause. Jason didn’t look so amused with the cash increase and the interest of the other members of the team. 

“How about we make things interesting?” Zack put up a finger, a gambling man, “No money, just a sparring match you n’me” He motioned between himself and the red ranger, “If you win,  _ I’ll  _ wear the dress and be Jaune, if  _ I  _ win  _ you _ wear the dress”

Jason narrowed his eyes, thinking of his options...he  _ would _ like to see the cocky black ranger get knocked down a peg or two. “Deal” He shook on it, and with witnesses there was no backing out now. 

The climax of the second season started with intense battle on a train, leading to an increased threat of grimm monsters attacking a city. The rangers were sitting on the edge of their seats. Billy had seen this show so many times before that he was so excited to see his friends get into something  _ he _ liked. Zack’s eyes lit up, he loved the action sequences the most. The fight scenes were the only times Jason seemed to really care but the one who surprised  _ everyone _ was Trini the moment Coco Adel strutted onto the scene. The  _ moment _ team CFVY came onto the screen the music changed into a heavy rock, totally Trini’s scene.

“Holy. Shit. I want to be  _ her”  _ She commented on the fictional character. Sunglasses, a badass attitude and a bag that turned into a literal machine gun to wipe out her enemies. Trini  _ may _ have just been hit with her first crush on a fictional character… “Dibs!”

“What?” Kimberly frowned, “You wanted to be  _ Blake,  _ if anyone should be….”

“Coco” Billy helped her out with that one.

“It should be  _ me”  _ Kimberly scoffed, she didn’t care about the battle anymore. No, this was a fight for her image. “I could pull that off way more than you could...besides I don’t have a character yet”

“Uhm sorry Kim but I already called  _ dibs _ so…”

Jason and Zack nodded their heads dumbly murmuring a “She did call dibs” in agreement. 

“You can be my rabbit girlfriend” She motioned to the other female member of CFVY, Velvet. “She’s  _ pretty _ cute”

“They’re not…” Billy sighed, pausing, he didn’t want to get in the middle of this one by explaining that Coco and Velvet  _ weren’t _ a canon couple. 

“You could  _ definitely  _ pull that look off” Zack sent two thumbs up in the pink rangers direction, “Besides wouldn’t you want to be a character that not many people choose? You could be the  _ only _ sexy bunny”

“Velvet” Billy corrected, as the character’s name wasn’t  _ sexy bunny.  _ “Um, you  _ would _ make a really good one”

“I...guess the costume isn’t  _ that _ hard” Kimberly sighed, “I’ll do it...it’s just like early Halloween right?” Having that outlook was what was going to get her through this.

*****

Billy and the girls were on the edge of their seats watching Zack and Jason spar. Who would win the bet? They were  _ shocked _ to see their leader fall on his back with a thud. The black ranger had beat him fair and square...a deal was a deal...Jason would have to find a dress to wear to the con. Trini and Kimberly were going to have a  _ field _ day with photos. 

A victorious Zack went over to Billy after the match, dabbing himself with a towel to try and clean up the sweat. “Hey, can we watch more RWBY?” He asked, a serious question, he was genuinely interested in the show...he wasn’t doing it to placate Billy’s interests like the others. “I wanna know what happens” 

The blue ranger nodded enthusiastically, “Sure! We can get snacks on our way back” 

Zack and Billy decided that they would watch volume three that night. The tournament had to have been the most exciting part for the black ranger. He absolutely loved watching the characters fight, and had a ball watching team SSSN in their short lived battle. Zack strongly connected himself to the monkey faunus, so much so that during sparring he wanted to start learning Sun’s style of combat. Swift kicks and flips, he was  _ all _ about that life.

“I looked up cosplay photos online” He approached Billy at school later down the line, “If we’re doing this, I want us to look the  _ best”  _ Zack’s grin went wide, “Y’think Alpha will help us build some weapons?”

Billy shrugged his shoulders, it couldn’t hurt to try. 

Zack and Billy collected money by selling some of Alpha’s spare parts on ebay, not that the robot was aware that they had taken anything from him. If they wanted to  _ be _ the best they couldn’t be stingy on supplies. Having a robot to assist them in creating functional cosplay props was only a perk. Trini would have a fake machine gun with a motor that could spin, Billy’s trident would be lit up with blue LED, Zack could have nunchucks that turned into a hefty staff.

It was  _ fun _ sharing this experience with someone else. As the days grew closer to the actual event, Zack would send Billy photos of Sun and Neptune with taglines of,  _ ‘We gotta recreate this!’  _ or  _ ‘We’d look so badass!’ _ and a  _ ‘Did you know people ship these two? LOL’. _ RWBY, the con, and everything in between was quickly becoming a black and blue thing. 

Billy and Zack had plans to watch volumes 4 and 5 all in one evening to get pumped for the event. Only, as rangers their plans were a bit postponed in order to save Los Angeles from a giant blue monkey with golden armored wings. Talk about a crazy night! That evening the two exhausted boys sat on the couch, wanting to stick with their plans, and try to push through the evening. After all...those were the episodes that started to build the universe, the plot was getting juicier,  _ darker,  _ exciting. 

“...I always feel bad for Alpha” Zack mused aloud, his head rested back, his eyes fighting to stay awake. “He’s always cooped up in that spaceship, that’s not fair to him” before the rangers had shown up, dinosaurs were walking the planet. 

“No it’s not…” What was Zack getting at? “It’s not like we can take a robot to Angel Grove without a zillion questions being asked and a possible probing by the government” He very much did  _ not _ want to be probed anytime soon. 

“Cosplays about dressing up right?” 

“Uh huh”

“Alpha helped us on our costumes….” Zack trailed off, looking to the screen as beowolfs started to appear. “What if we make him a grim?”

Billy’s eyes widened at the challenge, “That would be awesome!” They didn’t have much time, but with the determination to look the  _ best _ at this convention, and the fact that they were  _ power rangers…. _ nothing was going to get in their way. It was decided right then and there that the two boys would try and convince their robot buddy to come with them. Everyone deserves a day in the sun. 

The boys continued to watch the show with heavy eyes. One of the problems with season 4 and most of 5 was that because the main characters had split apart to be on their own journeys for some time...there was more  _ story _ than  _ action.  _ Billy didn’t even realize that he had dozed off until he opened his eyes, the clock read 4 in the morning and the dvd menu for season 4 had been repeating on a loop. They didn’t even  _ make _ it to season five. Billy lifted his head, not from the couch cushion like he believed, but off of Zack’s chest. 

Zack was still sound asleep as the blue ranger got off of him, it was an odd realization. Billy normally didn’t feel comfortable when others touched him, and here he was falling asleep on the other boys chest. Maybe it was because of all the time they spent together as Power Rangers, their trust on the battlefield, their  _ bond _ had to be strong to morph...Still he thought back on the past couple of weeks, just hanging out just him and Zack. It felt different to him, it wasn’t  _ like _ the brotherly friendship he had with Jason. When Zack smiled in Billy’s direction he felt warm. The black rangers presence was like a magnetic field, and lately, all Billy wanted to do was be in his radius.

On the day of the convention, Kimberly’s father drove the girls (they needed an adult in order to check into the two hotel rooms), while Jason drove his red pickup truck with the boys, Alpha and all of their cosplay stuff. Billy had to admit, he was having a ball watching the robot get excited about his new surroundings. Jason had to get Zack to stop trying to influence him to stretch his arms out the window and scare the shit out of the other cars. To everyone else he looked like a glorified toy. Still, the girls missed out on a  _ lot _ of laughs. 

When they got to the hotel, Mr. Hart was sure to get  _ two _ rooms, one for him and the girls and one for the boys and the props. Alpha could literally sleep anywhere, but when it came to the boys they had to decide who would share the two queen beds. Zack and Jason both knew of Billy’s preferences...but they weren’t too thrilled to be sleeping next to one another.

“I’ll share with Zack” The blue ranger surprised the other boys, “...Jason’s wearing a dress tomorrow” He was quick on his feet to come up with a better reason than wanting to be close to Zack. “It’s only fair he gets the bed” Jason and Zack nodded their heads in agreement, that sounded fair.

Finally, after all of those weeks of prepwork it was con day! Billy was  _ so _ excited that he could hardly contain himself. It wasn’t hard for Jason or Zack to really get into character. All Jason needed was for someone to zip the back of his shirt. Most of the getting ready selfies involved Jason’s hand trying to cover the lens or a  _ very _ harsh glare in Zack’s direction. No matter how much Jason teased him, Zack was pretty comfortable and confident wearing a monkey tail, with an open shirt his abs looked fantastic. Billy didn’t bother with trying to make his hair blue, he figured he would be okay with his natural hair, besides the coolest part about being  _ Neptune _ was rocking a cool pair of goggles. 

After getting Alpha into his beowolf costume, the boys met up with the girls in the lobby...well they  _ tried _ to meet up with the girls in the lobby as quickly as possible. With Alpha dressing up as a literal monster as opposed to a human from the series, the boys were asked to get their pictures taken. All while making a hilarious comment on Jason’s dress, how it was awesome that he went with that version. 

“Wow!” Zack commented when he spotted Trini and Kimberly in the hotel lobby, the two took their cosplays seriously for Billy’s sake. If Zack looked good in a monkey tail...Kimberly looked  _ damn _ good in her rabbit ears. The two faunes cosplayers were on selfie duty right away. If they were going to  _ do _ this, they were going to have as much fun as possible. “Trini for once actually  _ looks _ badass”

Trini pushed sunglasses up the bridge of her nose, took a step forward and punched Zack in the arm. “Shut up” Yeah, she got the Coco character down without even trying.

Kimberly laughed, helping Jason by handing Trini’s gun prop over to her, “You know, this makes me miss my long hair” She had to comment, having gone the extra mile and found a wig to pull off her character Velvet’s look. 

Jason felt like he had to hide his face, or try his best to stay hidden behind Alpha. Sure they were at a  _ con,  _ but right now the group had been standing around in the hotel lobby. A hotel lobby mixed with people dressed up as Naruto and ‘normal’ people who were horrified at their surroundings. “...Can we go into the con?” He asked, really,  _ really _ needing to be around nerds who at least understood  _ why _ he was wearing a dress.

Billy was the one to guide the group from the hotel to the convention center, he had never  _ been _ to a convention but he knew the basics. First they had to stand in line and pick up their badges, and make sure they hit a prop check to get cleared. It wasn't too bad, despite not having an electronic handheld game or an app to play, the five teenagers and robot could entertain one another. Besides, with a group cosplay looking  _ that _ on point they were stopped multiple time for cellphone photos. The phase of that continued as they tried to make their way to the dealers room. The confidence boost went directly to Kimberly and Zack's head, they were  _ all _ too excited to have their photos taken. Zack would try and do different poses each time, he even would have the person take one  _ nice _ photo and then another of him standing on his hands. Jason was slowly starting to embrace the dress, no one was making  _ fun _ of him for it...he was facing the complete opposite. Billy was one who got excited to share about how he and Zack made functional props while Trini made sure Alpha didn't walk himself into a wall. 

In the merchandise room, Billy had to be held back from spending any money on the coolest figures. Ah why was collecting things so expensive? Trini and Kimberly were surprised to see how many...interesting body pillow slip covers existed. Jason took a turn making sure Alpha didn't hit anything, while Zack had fun talking to literally anyone. A season 4 Ruby cosplayer by the name of Shelby Watkins practically squealed when she witnessed the group walking around the small shop, she was out to collect selfies of RWBY cosplayers and hit a gold mine finding the ranger gang. Shelby was here alone, and carried a small Weiss Schnee plushie with her to make up for not having a second person to cosplay.    
  
"Oh my god your weapons look so amazing!" She complimented Billy, the crafter of the group, "There was no way I could pull off something so nice" She was notably missing her character's massive black and red scythe to complete her outfit. "You should look into like commissioning props"    
  
Billy and Zack exchanged a glance...with Alpha's assistance they really could turn this into something for an extreme profit.    
  
"Are you guys going to the RWBY Photoshoot? It's today by the stairs at like...2:00"   
  
Zack spoke for everyone when he said, "Hell yes" He wanted to everyone to see his and Billy's handiwork. 

Shelby and Billy naturally clicked, they went back and forth with what their favorite scenes were their favorite characters, theories, ships. She followed along with them to artist alley, as one who had gone to this con multiple times she was able to help them figure out where to go...where to eat that didn't have a long line and most importantly she told them that a lot of the panels were more uncomfortable than actually fun, so pick and choose wisely. For Billy that was okay, he knew he was lucky to get his group of friends out here...he wasn't going to make them sit in a room for an hour and sit through any sort of panels. Maybe another day, another con...a con where it could be just him and Zack.

Billy and Shelby were both time oriented people, and because the ranger gang had never done a formal group photo shoot before...they wanted to make sure they were there early. It wasn't too hard to find where people were gathering, Ruby's scythe was pretty distinctive. It was cool to see the different cosplayers coming up to gather. People were so creative when it came to doing different versions of the characters, early seasons, later seasons, the school uniforms, pajamas. The best part about cosplaying was finding other people who liked the same things and could have a safe environment to talk about their interests without worry of ridicule. Here, a quarterback could wear a dress and be praised.  People could be themselves through dressing up like their favorite fictional character.    
  
Shelby didn't know Billy didn't like being touched, but the second she saw a specific Yang Xiao Long and Blake Belladonna she practically lost her shit and grabbed his arm. "Oh my god. I can't believe they're here"    
  
"Who?" Trini had to lower her sunglasses to get a better look at the two famous cosplayers that had just stepped foot in the photo gathering area. "Wow they're..."   
  
"Hot" Kimberly finished, stating a fact, she couldn't get mad at her girlfriend for thinking the same thing. 

“Thats Queen G cosplay and Pink Phoenix Photography” Shelby explained, to which no one understood what that meant but Billy beside her. Little did they know that Queen G, Gia Moran, the one dressed up as Yang was a locally famous cosplayer that had a ton of followers. Her girlfriend Emma Goodall, the one dressed up as Blake was equally as famous for her stellar and stunning cosplay photographers. The two combined made for a power couple in the nerd industry. “They’re coming this way,  _ be cool”  _

Gia and Emma were interested in speaking with  _ two _ people at this little gathering...the ones cosplaying Coco Adel and Velvet Scarlatina aka...Trini and Kimberly. “You two look fantastic” Emma, the photographer complimented with a smile, “...You all look fantastic” She had to look past the girls for a moment to appreciate the amount of work that was put into Alpha’s costume. “Is there a person in there?”

“Oh yeah” Billy nodded, completely starstruck by the popular girls. “That’s our friend Alpha”

“Huh” Gia and Emma both paused. A boy named  _ Alpha _ in a  _ beowolf _ costume, it could only mean one thing.  _ Furry.  _ “That’s cool of you guys” It was a community that wasn’t always treated the nicest, even if cons were supposed to promote acceptance. “His cosplay looks practically authentic”

Kimberly stood, with Gia and Emma clearly demanding the most attention it meant that  _ she _ wasn’t the biggest hot shot around. “I’m Kim, this is my girlfriend Trini” Emma’s eyes lit up at that, “Zack, Jason, Billy...and Alpha” She paused, “Oh, and Shelby. She’s kinda new…”

“Gia...this is my girlfriend Emma”

Billy didn’t waste any moment of time, completely stepping on Kimberly’s power move when he asked the blonde, “How did you make that arm?”

“Oh well…”

Before Gia could properly explain the depth and the details that went into making an arm look authentically metal, the big group photoshoot was about to begin. She was quick to mumble to the boy that if he follows her page she made a tutorial video. Shelby wanted to inform everyone what was going on, as this was their first con. The one in charge of the giant group meet up would shot a character, a specific set of characters, pairings or whatever other shots that the rest of the group would want to do. 

The first group to be called was obviously the main characters, team RWBY which out of their group consisted of only Shelby, Gia and Emma. Shelby could live out her little nerd dream by posing as Ruby Rose next to a famous cosplayer who happened to be dressed up as her character’s sister Yang. No it was when the next group that was called up was when things got interesting. JNPR. Jaune Arc’s team.

Jason had to walk up to stand in the middle of photography area. It was then he got a lot of wolf whistles and calls from the weebs and nerds alike surrounding him. He bashfully lowered his head but raised his arms as if at a football game welcoming the cheers to get louder. If he was going to do this, he was going to wear a dress in stride. Beside Billy, Zack was cackling, he was so proud of himself for winning the bet. “Wait till team SSSN is up” Zack murmured under his breath, if Jason thought he was going to win all the attention, he sure got that wrong. 

Since their teams, nor there characters were involved in the group photos. Gia and Emma and Trini and Kimberly were having a good old chat with one another. The famed duo in the nerd community found it refreshing to be able to have a conversation with someone who didn’t want a piece of their fame, or had a comment to make about them. Billy wasn’t  _ trying _ to overhear, but Emma invited their group of friends to do an LGBT friendly private photoshoot for her spread. She had just finished shots of her friends Lauren and Mia, a pair that were changing out of a genderbent Tuxedo Mask and Sailor Moon costume to do something RWBy to meet up with them.

If Emma was offering a photoshoot to the group that meant... _ Seamonkeys.  _ As in. Billy’s character and Zack’s character. As a  _ couple.  _

When team SSSN was called up, it mostly consisted of Sun and Neptune cosplayers. Outside of that, there was one non-binary person dressed up to the nines as Scarlet and a tall African American guy who embodied the character of Sage to a tee that it was scary...One female cosplayer that dressed up like Zack’s character Sun decided that she wanted to be  _ so _ in character that she started to climb one of the support beams like a monkey.

“Damn it Tori!” Gia called up at the girl, shaking her head, she then looked to Emma next to her, “What’re we going to do with her?”

“Hopefully not have to take her to he hospital” The photographer responded with a small laugh.

“Oh” Zack smirked, he loved a good challenge, “I like her” Billy could only watch as the monkey boy wanted to join the monkey girl on the support beam. Once he got to the top, the two hi-fived. Total strangers now suddenly were best of friends. 

Fine, if Zack wanted to  _ literally _ monkey around, Billy was cool with that. The blue ranger lowered his goggles over his eyes, and turned on his trident. Shiny lights were always going to beat out people climbing on things. The ‘ooohs’ the ‘aahhs’ and the whispered awestruck compliments were all too ego feuling. Oh yeah, this ranger group had style.

More group shots passed. Zack and the female Sun, Tori, were now chatting it up. Billy could sigh in relief when he overheard that the blonde girl had a boyfriend. A boyfriend that wasn’t  _ at _ the convention because this wasn’t his kinda thing. Now that the standard group shots were done it was time to break it down into  _ couples. _ Team RWBY went first. The ranger squad could sit back and watch the other people in the fandom have a blast with all the different combinations. First was Ruby and Weiss, Shelby had everyone cracking up as she didn’t have a partner that she came with...just a small grumpy faced Weiss plushie. For the Yang and Blake shot, the professional cosplayers took center stage. Gia scooped Emma up in her arms to carry the other girl bridal style, earning a bunch of laughs from those around them. For the Ruby and Blake shot, Emma kissed Shelby’s cheek...making the younger girls entire  _ year _ in the process. For the Ruby and Yang sister shot, Gia didn’t hesitate to drape her arm around her shoulders and pulling her close. It was pretty awesome that they included their fan, after all, this day was about fun.

When the Jaune and Pyrrha ship was announced, a new couple arrived on the scene. Lauren Shiba dressed to the nines as a female version of Jaune and her girlfriend Mia Watanabe made for a perfect detail oriented autumn warrior. The blonde knight in shining armor, something Jaune could only  _ aspire _ to be, pulled Mia close and kissed her for the cameras. Jason didn’t  _ have _ a partner or a girlfriend so he stood beside them and thumbs uped for the cameras. He was getting  _ very _ comfortable and confident in this dress…

Representing team CFVY was Kimberly and Trini’s “Crosshares” ship. Kimberly and Trini didn’t know  _ what  _ the hell to do with a bunch of people they didn’t know snapping pictures of them. Knowing that they would have a private session with Emma later, Kimberly reached forward and plucked Trini’s sunglasses from her face to wear. 

Billy could feel his palms start to sweat when the Seamonkeys ship was called up next. He and Zack were obviously going to do  _ something _ together, as they were the most comfortable with one another. The black ranger lowered his voice as the two walked to the photo area, “We should do something crazy...but I don’t want to do anything you’re not comfortable with” He laughed, “I saw pictures online, people  _ really  _ like this ship” Oh Zack, he got his fair share of images when he started to google search for Sun Wukong. 

“I know I’m safe with you”

“Ha if only my tail actually worked” He could easily wrap it around Billy’s body to pull him for a kiss. “I saw a pic online, but you’ve gotta hold me up”

“I can do that” Not a problem, he had Power Ranger strength after all. 

Like a goddamn monkey, Zack jumped up onto Billy’s front, his legs quick to wrap around Billy’s waist. Billy had only seconds to catch him, and hold him in place, in not only a display of strength but a totally cute shippy picture. They were the only ones that tried, as most of the boys that had showed up for this shoot were pretty uncomfortable with those that they hadn’t met. 

“...Are they a couple?” Billy could hear Emma ask Jason. The red ranger simply shrugged...he  _ honestly _ didn’t know. For Billy...maybe that was wishful thinking.

The group photo shoot continued to be fun, though as time went on people would start to dwindle off until the allotted time slot was done. Gia and Emma said their goodbyes to Lauren and Mia. Shelby was going to taper off and meet up with some friends that had been texting her. It was a great time to split off and take their session with the famous cosplay photographer. Emma already had the perfect spot in mind, outside the hotel there was a gorgeous fountain area just perfect for couple photoshoots. A nice place to be away from the convention center, enjoy some fresh air, and most importantly have the distance from other people. This was meant to be an intimate photoshoot. One that Emma could use to advertise her skillset, and show off something special for upcoming pride month.    

Since they weren’t  _ in _ the first set of photos, Jason, Zack, Billy, Gia and Alpha had to wait for Emma to finish with Trini and Kimberly. Kimberly was having a  _ blast _ with this. Trini wasn’t always the type that  _ liked _ being in photos, so to have a bunch of  _ coupley _ photos of the two of them taken by someone who actually knew how to use a camera was such a welcome treat. Emma knew how to position the two, some poses were to bring out Coco’s bad girl attitude and toughness. She had Trini sit on the edge of the fountain, Kimberly in her lap and the machine gun at her feet. Most of the photos would up looking  _ cute _ like engagement photos….only...Kimberly was sporting a nice set of rabbit ears. 

“Doesn’t he need a water break?” Gia asked the boys around her, her head motioning to Alpha. A  _ normal _ person  _ would _ absolutely need to hydrate themselves if they were wearing a fur suit. 

“Uh, right” Jason cleared his throat, “Alpha lets take a walk inside” It was for the best, now that Jason was standing  _ outside _ the convention he could potentially put himself in danger with that dress. 

Zack excused himself from Gia, motioning for Billy to follow them so they could talk... _ really _ talk about what they were going to do in front of that camera lense. “I want to kiss you” He blurted out, not leaving any chance for subtly. “For the picture….I think it would look good, and uh, it’s for a good cause” Zack cleared his throat to do a high pitched, “Yaay gays” The black ranger glanced down, “But I don’t want to put you in a place where you feel-”

“I’ll do it” Billy was all too rushed to respond, to jump at a chance to feel Zack’s lips on his. 

The last photo Emma had captured was one where Trini gave Kimberly’s butt a little love tap. A classic Coco move. Now it was the boys turn. Emma motioned the two over and started them off slow, she didn’t know her subjects...their relationship with one another or what they were comfortable with. 

Zack started with wrapping his arms around Billy’s neck, his forehead pressing up against the taller boys. Billy closed his eyes, waiting for the kiss to come at that very moment, but all he could hear was the clicking of the camera’s shutter. Next Zack thought he would be real fun and jump onto Billy’s back, wanting an instant piggyback ride. It was to show a more  _ fun _ side to Sun’s personality as opposed to a serious moment. The two faced away from Emma, as if walking away, Billy reached for Zack’s hand so Emma could get some closeups. 

While Kimberly and Trini’s photos were real moments shared between a couple...Zack and Billy were playing pretend. They weren’t Zack and Billy in these moments, rather Sun and Neptune.  _ They _ weren’t the ones holding hands, wrapping their arms around one another for a photo, no...in this moment they were trying to be fictional characters. A popular fandom ship. It was when Zack finally pressed his lips up against Billy’s where he wished it were real.

*****

That night, Gia and Emma invited the ranger gang to a room party. Kimberly didn’t want to have to report back to her dad so early and since they already had dinner there were two options...a con after dark where...weird shit happens  _ or _ a fun room party with their new friends. They obviously were out to pick spending more time with cosplay famous Gia and Emma. When they arrived to the room it felt like Halloween-  _ every _ guest had either stayed in their costume or changed into a different one. The odd person out were the ones  _ out _ of costume and dressed up like normal people. 

A lot of people were sitting around a table playing cards against humanity, others were making drinks, some were playing Super Smash brothers on a switch. Gia and Emma were on the couch talking about their industry with Mia and Lauren, it was no surprise to hear that Mia does all the work at making both of their costumes. She and Gia were taking their hobby and making some solid money via patreon doing it. The four of them were discussing the possibility of doing a group cosplay with each other for a convention in the fall. The four of them combined could make a pretty kickass group.

“Whoa Power Rangers in the house!” A boy dressed up Zuko from Avatar the Last Airbender announced. 

Panicked, the five  _ actual _ Power Rangers turned to the entrance to see five mirror images of their armored selves walking through the hotel room door. Billy, like the other four were absolutely floored to see such attention to detail...to see that someone  _ made _ something to look...pretty near identical. Well,  _ almost _ identical. The red ranger  _ noticeably _ had a breast plate similar to the yellow and pink rangers. When Zack and Billy thought they had won the cosplay of the day...they were wrong...this group absolutely killed it.

“Ah! You came” Gia was quick to host, getting up and hugging the red ranger in the center. The other girl took off her helmet, revealing to be an African American girl, far from the actual red ranger. “Do you need a drink?”

“Woo, those helmets look cool, but man, I don’t know how they do it” She commented, if only she knew that the visors retracted.

“Tanya, I want you to meet our new friends” Gia motioned for the other rangers to come over, the others followed suit in taking off their helmets to reveal equally gorgeous people, “Trini, Kimberly, Jason, Billy, Zack and….Alpha” Alpha sat on the couch in his beowolf costume, the robot waved at the sound of his name. The red ranger, Tanya, frowned...why would someone wear a fur suited costume to a very limited space hotel room party? “Furry” Gia murmured under her breath and the other girl understood instantly. 

“Meet the Power Rangers” The blonde smiled, motioning to the group, “This is Tanya in red, Aisha in yellow” Another black girl with braids waved in their direction, “Adam is in black” An Asian boy, Zack was quick to offer his fist for a bump in solidarity. He had to admit it was cool to see someone who  _ looked _ like him repping his color. “Rocky is blue” A latino boy shyly smiled, focusing his attention on Jason when he softly spoke a  _ ‘hi’.  _ “And in pink is Summer” A blonde girl, who noticeably was holding onto the ‘yellow’ power ranger’s hand. 

Oh this was the group they were going to spend their night chatting up.

Rocky took a quick interest to dress wearing Jason, the two were off having a private conversation from the others. Good for Jason, finally getting his flirt on. That dress had magic powers at this point. Billy and Zack had separated Adam from his girlfriend Tanya, wanting to know  _ how _ he made Power Ranger costumes look so intricate and detailed. Trini and Kimberly were all too interested in talking to Aisha and Summer, the girls that had dressed up as a gay pink and yellow ranger. Aisha and Summer were doubtful, but hopeful that the superheroines  _ could _ be like them...queer. If only they knew.

Tanya eventually pulled her man away from the bubbling nerdy crafting conversation. She wanted to get him in on the next round of Super Smash brothers and she wanted her partner. That was fine, it gave Billy a chance to finally try to speak up...his character Neptune may hide away from his feelings but Billy Cranston was going to go full force and confront them. “Zack...can we talk, maybe out on the balcony?”

“Sure!” The black ranger grabbed a couple of pepsi’s along the way, hey he was going to take all the free stuff he could get away with. “Man this convention stuff has been a lot of fun. I was thinking, maybe we should do this more often. We could be like Mako and Bolin, or Captain America and Falcon or ….”

“I’ve been having a lot of fun too” Billy sighed, he couldn’t have this conversation with goggles on, “I’ve really liked staying up late and watching RWBY...making our cosplays…” He hadn’t laughed this much in so long, he hadn’t felt this strongly connected to someone since…. _ ever.  _ “...And I really liked pretending to be your boyfriend” The blue ranger didn’t really  _ know _ how to speak his feelings so he kept going, “When we kissed it was like...wow...a chemical reaction”

Zack understood what he was saying, he didn’t want to push or pry Billy...this was something he had to come forth with on his own. “We don’t  _ have _ to pretend”

“No?”

The black ranger hesitated, waiting for Billy to slowly nod his head before Zack reached his hand out to caress Billy’s cheek, “Nope” He closed the distance, pressing his lips against Billy’s. 

_ This  _ time, they could kiss as  _ Zack _ and  _ Billy _ not  _ Sun _ and  _ Neptune.  _


End file.
